CHICAGO (AP) — Derrick Rose wasn't sure how he will feel when sees his No. 1 hanging from the rafters. He was still trying to process the news.
The Chicago Bulls announced Saturday they plan to retire Rose's jersey sometime next season. The Chicago product and MVP will join Michael Jordan (23), Scottie Pippen (33), Jerry Sloan (4) and Bob Love (10) as the only players whose numbers have been retired by the team.
Team president and CEO Michael Reinsdorf informed him in person on Saturday morning, telling him “nobody’s wearing that No. 1 jersey again” unless son PJ plays for the team. Rose, who retired in September after 16 seasons, was already scheduled to be honored with tributes before and during their game against the New York Knicks that night. The Bulls said they will have more details about the jersey retirement at a later date.
“Tonight is not about that,” Rose said. He said it was about showing appreciation for “everybody that was a part of the story, the journey, the good, the bad, the ugly.”
“It's celebrating everyone,” he said. “I understand coming from Chicago that it's tough love. It's a lot of tough love. You could forget about the love sometimes and just give toughness. Coming back, me being raised off of that tough love, I just wanted to show the love part. There's toughness, too, but you don't have to be tough all the time. It's understanding and realizing why I'm here.”
Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf said in a statement: “Derrick is both a hometown hero and a symbol of an entire era of Bulls basketball."
On Saturday, the Bulls unveiled the “Derrick Rose Experience” in the United Center’s atrium showcasing memorabilia from his career. Players on both teams wore themed shooting shirts displaying “1.4.25” symbolizing the date as well as the numbers he wore with the Bulls, Knicks and at Chicago's Simeon Career Academy. Black T-shirts emblazoned with a red rose were at each seat. There were to be moments throughout the game recognizing Rose, his family and teammates.
At halftime, Rose walked out to those familiar “MVP! MVP!” chants after a highlight video played. He took a seat next to his mom, Brenda. He broke down when former teammate Joakim Noah told him he “always put your city on your back” and said he's “the people's champ.” Another video narrated by PJ was shown before Rose addressed the crowd.
“So well deserved,” New York's Tom Thibodeau, who coached Rose in his prime with the Bulls as well as in New York and Minnesota, said before the game. “For what he means to the city, the Bulls, the entire NBA. I had the opportunity to coach against him, so I know how difficult that is. I had the good fortune to coach him. You see in looking in the eyes of the opponent, when they had to guard him you could see the fear and the respect.”
Thibodeau said Rose — known for his humility almost as much as his explosiveness — was “probably the most beloved player in the league." He also said he belongs in the Hall of Fame.
Rose, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2008 NBA draft, went from being Rookie of the Year to an All-Star to NBA MVP in his first three seasons. He remains the league's youngest MVP, winning it when he was 22.
A major knee injury during the 2012 playoffs forced him to miss almost two full seasons and he contemplated stepping away from the game several times following other injury issues.
Rose averaged 17.4 points and 5.2 assists in 723 regular-season games. He averaged 21 points per game before the ACL tear 12 years ago and 15.1 per game in the seasons that followed. But he insisted he doesn't think about what might have been if not for the injuries.
“The last time I had those conversations was years and years ago," he said. “Who knows? But at the same time, with me being obsessed, I wouldn't have found out who I was as a person. I was obsessed with the game. Not love, I was obsessed. If I would have won one championship, I would have wanted four. And that would have pulled me further and further away from finding self-knowledge, self-revelation, my identity. Everybody's story is different. For some reason, mine ended being this way. Coming from Chicago, we roll with the punches.”
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Former NBA player Derrick Rose answers questions during a news conference before an NBA basketball game between the New York Knicks and the Chicago Bulls, Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Melissa Tamez)
Players warm up on Derrick Rose Night before an NBA basketball game between the New York Knicks and the Chicago Bulls, Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Melissa Tamez)
T-shirts are on seats on Derrick Rose Night before an NBA basketball game between the New York Knicks and the Chicago Bulls, Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Melissa Tamez)
WASHINGTON (AP) — It's the largest prosecution in Justice Department history — with reams of evidence, harrowing videos and hundreds of convictions of the rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Now Donald Trump's return to power has thrown into question the future of the more than 1,500 federal cases brought over the last four years.
Jan. 6 trials, guilty pleas and sentencings have continued chugging along in Washington's federal court despite Trump's promise to pardon rioters, whom he has called “political prisoners" and “hostages” he contends were treated too harshly.
Here's a look at where the prosecutions stand on the fourth anniversary of the Capitol riot and what could happen next:
More than 1,500 people across the U.S. have been charged with federal crimes related to the deadly riot. Hundreds of people who did not engage in destruction or violence were charged only with misdemeanor offenses for entering the Capitol illegally. Others were charged with felony offenses, including assault for beating police officers. Leaders of the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys extremist groups were convicted of seditious conspiracy for what prosecutors described as plots to use violence to stop the peaceful transfer of power from Trump, a Republican, to Joe Biden, a Democrat.
About 250 people have been convicted of crimes by a judge or a jury after a trial. Only two people were acquitted of all charges by judges after bench trials. No jury has fully acquitted a Capitol riot defendant. At least 1,020 others had pleaded guilty as of Jan. 1.
More than 1,000 rioters have already been sentenced, with over 700 receiving at least some time behind bars. The rest were given some combination of probation, community service, home detention or fines.
The longest sentence, 22 years, went to former Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio, who was convicted of seditious conspiracy along with three lieutenants. A California man with a history of political violence got 20 years in prison for repeatedly attacking police with flagpoles and other makeshift weapons during the riot. And Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes is serving an 18-year prison sentence for seditious conspiracy and other offenses.
More than 100 Jan. 6 defendants are scheduled to stand trial in 2025, while at least 168 riot defendants are set to be sentenced this year.
Authorities have continued making new arrests since Trump's election victory. That includes people accused of assaulting police officers who were defending the Capitol.
Citing Trump's promise of pardons, several defendants have sought to have their cases delayed — with little success.
In denying one such request, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, who was nominated to the bench by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican, wrote: "This Court recently had the occasion to discuss what effect the speculative possibility of a presidential pardon has on the timetable for a pending criminal matter. In short: little to none."
One defendant who convinced a judge to postpone his trial, William Pope, told the court that the “American people gave President Trump a mandate to carry out the agenda he campaigned on, which includes ending the January 6 prosecutions and pardoning those who exercised First Amendment rights at the Capitol.” Pope has now asked the judge to allow him to travel to Washington to attend Trump's inauguration on Jan. 20.
Trump embraced the Jan. 6 rioters on the campaign trial, downplaying the violence that was broadcast on live TV and has been documented extensively through video, testimony and other evidence in the federal cases.
Trump has vowed to begin issuing pardons of Jan. 6 rioters on his first day in office. He has said he will look at individuals on a case-by-case basis, but he has not explained how he will decide who receives such relief.
He has said there may be “some exceptions" — if “somebody was radical, crazy." But he has not ruled out pardons for people convicted of serious crimes, like assaulting police officers. When confronted in a recent NBC News interview about the dozens of people who have pleaded guilty to assaulting law enforcement, Trump responded: “Because they had no choice."
Many judges in Washington's federal court have condemned the depiction of the rioters as “political prisoners," and some have raised alarm about the potential pardons.
"No matter what ultimately becomes of the Capital Riots cases already concluded and still pending, the true story of what happened on January 6, 2021 will never change," Judge Lamberth recently said in a statement when handing down a sentence.
U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, has said it would be “beyond frustrating and disappointing” if Trump hands out mass pardons to rioters.
In another case, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta alluded to the prospect of a pardon for Rhodes, the Oath Keepers founder convicted of seditious conspiracy.
“The notion that Stewart Rhodes could be absolved of his actions is frightening and ought to be frightening to anyone who cares about democracy in this country,” said Mehta, who was nominated by President Barack Obama, a Democrat.
Follow the AP's coverage of the Jan. 6 insurrection at https://apnews.com/hub/capitol-siege.
FILE - Violent protesters loyal to President Donald Trump, including Kevin Seefried, center, holding a Confederate battle flag, are confronted by U.S. Capitol Police officers outside the Senate Chamber inside the Capitol, Jan. 6, 2021 in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)
FILE - Supporters of President Donald Trump climb the west wall of the the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Jan. 6, 2021. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
FILE - A flag hangs between broken windows after then-President Donald Trump supporters tried to break through police barriers outside the U.S. Capitol, Jan 6, 2021. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
FILE - Insurrectionists loyal to President Donald Trump try to break through a police barrier, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)
